Local Yo-Yoer Spins His Way to Second in the Nation

By Jaiden Dorris

Twenty-year-old Josiah Pulsifer from Purcell, Missouri, first got into yo-yoing during Easter 2017 at his cousin’s house. A video from the YouTube series “Good Mythical Morning” featured Zach Gormley doing yo-yo tricks, and it instantly caught Josiah’s attention.

On the way home, he convinced his mom to stop at Walmart, where he bought a dark blue Duncan Butterfly yo-yo.

“It was not a super great yo-yo. It didn’t have a bearing, but it did go up and down … well, not at first,” Josiah said. “It took me three days to actually get it up and down consistently. I really considered giving up, which is funny to think about now.”

At his grandparents’ house a few days later, Josiah’s grandpa—who used to yo-yo—showed him the correct way to throw it. Two days after that, Josiah nailed it.

He soon ordered a Magic Yo-Yo N8, but it wouldn’t return when thrown. After a few hours of frustration, Josiah searched online and discovered it was an “unresponsive” yo-yo. He learned how to do a bind return, which launched him into a four-month deep dive into yo-yo tricks and history.

“Through my research, I discovered 4A Yo-Yoing, the offstring division, and it started to look really cool to me.”

His first offstring yo-yo was the Yo-Yo Factory Flight. By late summer 2017, offstring yo-yoing began to feel natural. He bought a second offstring and started practicing the Soloham—two yo-yos on one string—spending up to eight hours a day on it.

“I was finally able to do more tricks!”

In 2018, the iYOYO brand released the Icebreaker. Josiah bought two and was impressed by their smoothness and reliability.

“This was the first yo-yo that made me feel like I was good at yo-yoing,” he said. “That got me really into offstring yo-yoing. I realized I was an offstring yo-yoer.”

In May 2019, Josiah entered the iYOYO Offstring Banger Contest on Instagram. The prize was a Skylight yo-yo. He practiced for seven hours in the heat, perfecting an original Soloham overwhip trick. Josiah won the contest and was sent a free yo-yo—and the opportunity to buy a second one at a discounted price.

Later that year, he entered his first live contest: UYYC Missouri State, where he placed third in the offstring division.

“Being exposed to more yo-yoers got me a lot more motivated,” Josiah said. At Illinois State University that fall, he met Myles Gregory, a prominent yo-yoer. The two spent most of the contest trading tricks and ideas.

“That was one of the experiences that spiked my dedication.”

Josiah planned to compete more in 2020, but the pandemic brought competitions to a halt. His motivation dipped. When events resumed in 2023, he got back into competing.

His return began at Midwest Regionals at the Mall of America in May 2023. Despite nerves and tough competitors like Tony Sung, Elijah Strute, and national champion Connor Stolton, Josiah delivered a clean performance.

“I was extremely nervous, but I got on stage and had a clean run, made most of my tricks, and I won the contest!”

Unfortunately, the following competitions—Gulf Coast Regionals, UYYC, and US Nationals in Mesa, Arizona—didn’t go as well.

“I bombed,” Josiah admitted. “My consistency wasn’t where it needed to be. My hands were shaky. It was mistake after mistake.”

At UYYC 2024, Josiah won, but not with a clean run. It was an uncompetitive field, and he wasn’t happy with his performance. Then at Midwest Regionals 2024, he performed his favorite routine but missed too many tricks and placed fifth.

That summer, he traveled to Cleveland, Ohio, for the World Yo-Yo Contest. The event had three rounds: a 60-second prelim, a 90-second semifinal and the finals. Josiah was eliminated in the prelims.

“I was super disappointed,” he said. “But I got to talk to really good yo-yo players, and that gave me motivation again.”

Feeling burned out, Josiah confided in six-time champion Chen Zhao.

“I felt like all the work I put in all year had been for nothing,” he said.

Chen replied with a quote Josiah still thinks about: “All of your practice for this year’s competitions was also practice for next year’s competitions.”

In 2025, Josiah began analyzing his previous performances, only a week after Worlds. Later, he competed at a low-stakes contest called the ETC Throw Series. With minimal nerves, he performed flawlessly and won.

The next event was UYYC 2025. Returning to a stage where he had previously failed, Josiah delivered a clean performance—with just three mistakes—and won.

Then came the 2025 National Yo-Yo Contest. Remembering last year’s performance, Josiah went in nervous. But he aced the prelims with only one mistake and advanced to the finals.

In the final round, Josiah gave the best performance of his life—his most ambitious trick set yet. Judges scored his performance highly, but competitor Ryan Connolly received a higher technical score. Josiah finished second in the nation.

“That was my best and most notable achievement,” Josiah said. “To get second place in such a big contest, against fantastic yo-yo players.”

He likened it to placing second at the Olympics rather than winning a local meet. Nationals are on another level entirely.

Competitive Yo-Yoing

There are five competitive divisions: 1A through 5A. Josiah competes in 4A, the offstring category. In 4A, yo-yos are not attached to the string, which adds difficulty.

Judging is split between two categories: Technical Execution (60% of the score) and Performance Evaluations (40%). Evals include trick presentation, performance quality, musicality and routine construction.

“It’s similar to judging figure skating,” Josiah explained. Judges click for successful tricks and subtract for mistakes. Penalties include one point for restarts, three for switching yo-yos and five for breaking one.

“I really like the creativity of yo-yoing,” he said. “Most artistic things have been thoroughly explored, but with yo-yoing, you can create your own tricks that no one else has done.”

Josiah stressed the importance of consistency.

“If you want to do well, you have to be yo-yoing every single day. My goal right now is to become the national champion. After that, I’d love to make the top 5 at Worlds.”

He also encouraged others to give yo-yoing a try.

“It’s a really accepting community with people from all different backgrounds. I would encourage anyone and everyone to try it. Follow yo-yoers on social media.

“The biggest thing is: if you stick with anything long enough, and really enjoy the process, you’ll get good at it. If you can enjoy everyday life, you will go far.”

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